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Young Women Taking Big Steps

SPRING 2019

Newsletter BIANNUAL

Letter from Head of School Adrian Moody – RFS Head of School

/FriendsRamallah /RamallahFriendsSchool

What Does it Really Mean?

Teaching Problem Solving

at the Lower School.

Environmental Clubs @ RFS

OFFERING QUALITY QUAKER EDUCATION TO PALESTINIAN YOUTH SINCE 1869

By Besan Jaawan – Development & Communications Manager

PAGE 2

During the month of March I was fortunate to spend some

time with each of RFS’ classes planting trees.

Each class in the school planted a tree which will be

identified with that class and marked accordingly. We are

planting 150 trees this year to celebrate the 150th

anniversary. It was effectively our first celebration to mark

this occasion. But why are we planting trees? It is true that

we want to create forests on our campuses, that we want

to make our campuses greener and more environmentally

inviting, and that we want to educate our students on the

value and need for trees at a time when many trees in

Palestine are being cut down. However, the action of

coming together and participating in a whole school

exercise I believe is part of being a community.

The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) tells us

that while the Quaker faith is founded on the principle that

every person can have a direct relationship with God, an

equally central tenet lies in the power of the “gathered

community.” We believe that there is power in the

recognition that we are a community.

Although we are individuals, it is when we act together that

we can have the greatest affect. We come together in silent

meeting to create unity and trust. We come together to

plant and improve our environment.

And we come together on Field Day recognizing that we are

one school and that we work together as one.

The author Margaret Wheatley once said "There is no power

for change greater than a community discovering what it

cares about.”

This year we celebrate the community that is RFS.*

Head of School and first graders planting their tree in the Lower

Campus as part of the 150th anniversary Forestation Campaign.

Young Women Taking Big Steps

At RFS all students are encouraged to take part in as wide

a variety of extracurricular activities as possible as we

believe it as an opportunity for students to develop new

interests and learn new skills. The School’s Afterschool

programs offer a large variety of activities. But, as a result

of parents’ dedication towards encouraging their children

to join extracurricular programs off-campus as well, RFS

students are now leading role models in many local and

national sports teams.

Dana, Leila, Zeina, and Maya are only a few of RFS’ young

female students taking big steps towards accomplishing

successes in Palestinian sports where women have not set

foot before.

Leila Malki, 10th grader, won FEI’s (Federation Equestre

Internationale) “Against All Odds” 2018 Award for her

accomplishments as the youngest Palestinian female

equestrian. Leila has represented Palestine and won in

many international equestrian championships in Morocco,

Colombia and other countries.

Zeina Madi, 9th grader, has

become Palestine’s first

female boxer and has

represented Palestine in

many international boxing

championships, winning a

golden medal in Holland

recently. Zeina says her

ambitions are to represent

Palestine in the Olympics

someday and that even

though she plays a sport

that many see as

inappropriate for girls, she

receives tremendous

support from her parents,

family and coach.

Photo courtesy FEI Awards

RFS student Zeina Madi awarded

in a local boxing championship.

Photo courtesy Zeina Madi

Photo courtesy Maya’s parents.

Maya Khalil, 5th

grader, won this

year’s Palestinian

National

Swimming

Championship for

her age group by

swiping all the

golden medals in

freestyle, back,

butterfly, and

breast swimming

for 50 meters.

Dana Bawatneh, 9th grader, joined the Palestinian

National Women’s Soccer Team last February and

travels abroad with the team to play in international

matches. Dana says it was challenging at first to keep

up with her school work and the long training

sessions, but she manages to play for the

RFS Female Soccer Team as well!

Photo courtesy Dana Bawatneh

RFS female sports teams do not fall far from these

accomplishments and successes. The female soccer

team won 2nd place in the Kings’ Academy Soccer

Championship in Jordan last October with students

Joud Zughayer and Joud Jamous awarded as

best female players.

In spring, the girls’ basketball team won 1st place in the

central school tournament of Ramallah &

El Bireh schools.

RFS is forever proud of all our students and their

wonderful accomplishments. These young ladies are

only a few of our amazing youth who accomplish a lot

every day in classrooms and off campus.*

PAGE 4

Teaching Problem Solving at the Lower School By Lian Derini & Khaled AbuSaber – Counselors

Living in peace is the minimum for a decent life, and it is

the right of every child to enjoy peace, whether

domestically or in the surrounding environment. We work

at the Friends School to promote the use of dialogue and

logical discussion during the solution of daily problems

through a strategy we seek to stabilize from first grade so

it can grow with them gradually to deepen the students’

understanding and use during conflicts between each

other.

This strategy gives students the opportunity to express

their feelings in conflicts and defend themselves

accordingly.

Photo courtesy Daniel Kasztelan - FUM

And this leads them to internal peace resulting from the

confession of emotions within a comfortable space where

they receive compassion.

We encourage space where they receive compassion. We

encourage students to repeat this strategy three times to

give an opportunity for the other person to think calmly

and carefully. This enhances the value of patience and

understanding of the emotional situations of others. If the

students do not succeed in solving the problem, one can

choose to report to a special book for each class called

"Problem Solving Notebook". A student expresses his/her

feelings in writing and sometimes through drawing to

explain what happened.

This gives students different ways to express themselves

and always strive to solve problems. We discuss problems

written in the notebook in the problem solving class.

We start the problem solving class with a minute of silence,

and we reflect on the feelings of each student during the

week. We look for if they encounter problems and whether

they succeeded in solving them or they did not have any

problem or faced a problem but they could not solve it. In

the case of students not solving a problem, the classroom

teacher and/or the counselor try to solve the problems

written on the notebook only to enhance the students’

demand for self-reliance first, and students are then asked

to propose peaceful solutions to solve the conflict.*

Lower School won the sustainability environmental

award for the 3rd year in a row.

RFS recently installed a photovoltaic system on roofs

of some buildings in both campuses to generate

electricity and reduce use of energy.

Upper School students expressed the school’s

Quaker Testimonies in their Art lessons this year

through their art work with creative ideas of word

designs and posters, which were put on exhibit

during Field Day.

To ensure that students learn the Quaker Values by

doing, students and staff managed again this year

to collect around $10,000 through the White Gifts

program through bake sales and donations.

RFS Radio Station operated for the 1st time with

Saturday morning programs broadcast by the

Multimedia lab and Student Council.

“Yalla Neqra’” the Arabic reading application initiated

by the school in cooperation with Al-Naizak

started phase two.

The drama club performed “The Pied Piper of

Hameli” play. Other students in different afterschool

programs; Ballet, Karate, Modern Dance and Zumba

performed in the 150th Field Day.

Students visited charitable institutions through the

Community Service Program.*

The Upper School

community of students,

staff, admnistrators,

teachers, and

volunteers all came

together around

making 150+ origami

cranes that are hung

in the Middle

School library.

PAGE 3

What Does it Really Mean?

By: Riyam Kafri-AbuLaban – Upper School Principal

Stewardship...What does it really mean to practice

stewardship in an educational institution? Isn’t

education a form of stewardship, be it academic or

disciplinary? These are the kind of questions I

contemplate regularly as I work with students and

teachers on a daily basis. According to Quaker

testimonies from the San Francisco Friends Council on

Education, Stewardship is caring for the earth and its

inhabitants.

In a school setting this means that we care for students’

well beings, and the environments they live in, but we

also teach them to care for themselves, their peers and

the school environment.

At the Upper School stewardship shows up in the most

direct way, like the school environmental club hanging

signs urging students to turn off the lights, and to wash

their hands after using the bathroom and to throw

paper towels in the trash. Or the planting of trees as

we did in March 2019. Or putting up trash cans with lids

so that littering is curbed.

Other times stewardship shows up in the library as

students offer each other support and help. It is the

care and love we show each other on a daily basis to

ensure that each and every one of us is enabled to

realize their potential.

Stewardship extends also beyond peers, the principal

seeing students regularly, or counseling a teacher after

a long day, making sure that they have everything they

need to fulfill their responsibilities.

There are many ways to practice stewardship, and at

the upper school, we are committed to get better at it

every day.*

Upper School students embodied RFS’ Quaker Testimonies

in their Art lessons.

students offer each other support and help. It is the

care and love we show each other on a daily basis to

ensure that each and every one of us is enabled to

realize their potential.

Stewardship extends also beyond peers, the principal

seeing students regularly, or counseling a teacher

after a long day, making sure that they have

everything they need to fulfill their responsibilities.

There are many ways to practice stewardship, and at

the Upper School, we are committed to get better at

it every day.*

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Donor Thanks We would like to thank the following people for their recent donations to

Ramallah Friends School:

6 RFS QUAKER TESTIMONIES

SIMPLICITY

Lower School White Gifts Program

By: Frieda Dahdah – Lower School Principal

We at the Ramallah Friends School and

since the Palestinian catastrophe in 1948

started the White Gifts Program, which

meets with the school and Quakers

values and vision of giving and feeling

with others. The program came as a

correspondence to the Palestinian

catastrophe where thousands of

Palestinians were expelled from their

homes and lands, and left with nothing.

It started from the idea of solidarity with the refugees and to help them by collecting and giving them the aid needed. The white

gifts program is now an annual program that we enjoy at both campuses.

As a student and a principal at RFS I enjoy this program with all its details, from paying

part of our daily pocket money, along with bringing food and sweets for sale in school.

This idea has grown in terms of the values of tenderness and compassion, which are

bound by love and peace, and these values have spread in the school’s community and

in our Palestinian society.

As a part of what we are brought up to, this program has become a role model and an

example for many to follow and act on.

The program reflects the message of peace in our country, which the spirit of giving

reaches in all its categories and spectrum.

Accordingly we continue working on the program with the school community including

parents and students, in the process of selling and baking healthy food on campus. The

aim of this is to collect a larger amount of money, in order to give to families in need.

This year we collected (40,500) ILS which were distributed among 135 families in need.*

STEWARDSHIP

Friends believe that all God’s

gifts are entrusted to us for

the sake of future

generations.

Friends believe that every

person is equally beloved by

God, no matter what.

EQUALITY

Friends believe that we need

each other, since each and

every one of us is precious

to our community.

COMMUNITY

Friends believe that our

words and actions must

reflect our truest selves.

INTEGRITY

Friends believe that there is

always a path that brings

peace, justice, dignity and

respect.

PEACE

Friends believe that the most

important things in life aren’t

things.

Environmental Clubs at RFS By: Miraj Othman – US Teacher

The Environmental Club works at raising

environmental and health awareness at the

school. A small group of students

established the club in 2010, with my

support. This year, a group of members

from the 7th to 9th grades are engaged.

The club encourages reclaiming

agricultural lands, rationalizing water and

energy use, recycling and awareness raising.

Our students reclaimed land by creating an

organic garden in a neglected area of the

school campus.

The garden allows our students to extend

their learning beyond the classroom walls,

as part of our MYP curriculum. Students

reflect the MYP learner’s profile as inquirers,

communicators, principled, caring and

knowledgeable.

They plant, water, weed and care for the

garden, which now has over 12 different

vegetables. Other activities include waste

sorting, recycling of solid wastes, making

deodorants out of environmentally friendly

materials, and recycling plastic bags, plastic

bottles, and tires as well. We look forward

to keep our club active and unique!

Aaron Charlop-Powers

Abdul Muhsen Al-Qattan

Abdeen Elite Home

Alexandra Fairfield and David Cheney

Alice Sturm

AlRasheed Coffee Grinding Co.

Amesbury Friends Meeting

Andrew and Sarabeth Marcinko

Ann Dodd-Collins

Ann Lee and Charles Nichols

Ann Procter

Annapolis Friends Meeting

Anne W. and Robert L. Wells

Annette Herskovits and Peter Solomon

Anonymous Donor

APIC

Arthur & Meg Boyd Meyer

Asheville Friends

Ashraf and Fahima Khalaf

Avo Kaplanian

Barbara Diehl

Barbara Nicholson

Bank of Palestine

Billings Friends Meeting

Binghamton Community Friends

BISAN Systems

Bob and Susie Fetter

Brad and Susan Hathaway

Bruce and Ruth Hawkins

Bruce and Suzanne Bell Manger

Bruce Coolidge

Burlington Friends Meeting

Canadian Yearly Meeting

Cara Carter

Carol Reinhart and M. Stoppacher

Catharine and Harry Tunis

Charles and Cathy Grant

Charles and Rita Harb

Charles Green

Chris Dye

Christine Cradler and Lawrence Ferguson

Christopher & Maia Hallward

Church Of The Savior United Church Of Christ

Colin and Janine Saxton

Conservative Friends

Corafta Foundation

Daniel & Elizabeth Crofts

Daniel Gillespie

Daniel White

David Grimland

David MacFarlane

Don & Marion Lathrop

Donald and Nancy Nagler

Dover Friends Meeting

Dulany Bennet

Eden and James Grace

Eleanor Beach and Robert Haak

Elizabeth B Reuthe

Elizabeth Solbert-Sheldon

Elizabeth W. and Ralph Hofmeister

Eric Kristensen

Evanston Friends Meeting

Exalt Technologies

Farmington Friends Church

Florence Emma Peery

Fran Brokaw

Frank and Raquel H. Wood

Frank Shaheen

Friends Church of North Carolina Friends

Fritz and Paula Weiss Rossvall

Gail Thompson and Seth Frazier

Gene Hillman

George & Rebecca Way Bergus

Georgia E. Fuller

Gerald and Bette Meyer

Glen, Marilyn & Hans Verick

Greensboro First Friends

Gwendolyn Gosney Erickson

Hanover Friends Meeting

Herndon Friends Meeting

Hesperia E. Bevan

Home Rule Globally

Hugh and Rhonda Hanlin

Hugh MacArthur and Rhea McKay

Indianapolis First Friends

Iowa Yearly Meeting Missions

J S Pagels

J. Houge E. Rodley

J. Stuart Lemle

Jack & Kathy Shepherd

Jane and Robert Horn

Jean Berggren

Jean Wilson

Joel Stettenheim & Signe Taylor

John & Carolyn Norris

John and Betty Smallwood

John and Shannon Chamberlin

John Drotos

John Joseph Drotos

John Lamb

John Macdougall Investment Trust

Joseph and Mary Louise Bates

Joyce Ajlouny

Judy Williams & Robert Shumsky

Kareem Fuad Shehadeh

Katharine Stierhoff

Kathi and Peter Donatucci

Kathy Tussing

Kelly and Kathleen Kellum

Ken Stockbridge

Kenneth and Jan Hoffman

Lane and Pam Sims

Langley Hill Friends

Lawrence Brown Ferguson, Jr

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

PAGE 7

PAGE 8 PAGE 7

P.O Box 66

Ramallah, Palestine

Tel: +970.2.295.2286

Fax: +970.2.295.8320

www.rfs.edu.ps

c/o Friends United Meeting

101 Quaker Hill Drive

Richmond IN 47374-1926

Return Service Requested

Non-Profit Org. U.S Postage

PAID

Richmond IN Permit No. 747

Quaker Education in Palestine since 1869

Adrian Moody, Head of School

Jumana Thalji, Assistant to the

Head of School

Newsletter Editors: Jumana

Thalji and Besan Jaawan

Ramallah Friends School is a

ministry of Friends United

Meeting

150TH ANNIVERSARY

EVENTS KICK OFF

AT RFS!

By Besan Jaawan – Development

& Communications Manager

Donor Thanks We would like to thank the following people for their recent donations to

Ramallah Friends School:

Donations received November 2018 through May 2019

TO DONATE: PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.RFS.EDU.PS AND CLICK DONATE

Patricia & Mark Erickson

Patricia Hertzler

Peggy Hollingsworth

Peter B. and Anna L. Davol

Peter Belmont and Mary Zulack

Peter Bien

Philip Mayer

Pleasant Plain Friends Church

Quaker Service Sweden

Rahway & Plainfield Friends Meeting

Richard and Betsy Morse

Richard and Karen M. Herreid

Richmond Friends Meeting

Rob and Sue Settlage

Robert Drysdale

Robert Drysdale and Patricia Higgins

Robert Goren

Robert Gowin and Laura A. Cisar

Robert Praetorius

Robert Vitalis

Roger and Margit Cook

Ruth and Jon Tippin

Ruth Bourns

Rukab's Ice Cream

Sabron & Robert Newton

Saif Bazzar

Sallyann Garner

Saleh Khalaf Co.

Sandy Rea

Sarah Bur and Gary Gillespie

Scott Henderson and Jennifer Perkins

Southwest Friends Financial Development Corporation

Steve & Lynn Mills

Stony Run Friends Meeting

Susan Johnson

Susan Liesel Dreisbach-Williams

Tallahassee Friends Meeting

Tanya Field Hicks

Tarifi Optics

Ted and Debbie First

Ted and Mary Marshburn

Tempe Friends Meeting

Pamela Pearson

Pamela Wood and Sharifa Elokdah

Pamela Young

Patricia & Mark Erickson

Tempe Friends Meeting

The Walsh Alker Family

Theodore Halsted

Thomas and Barbarie Hill

Thomas and Sarah Monego

Thomas and Ursula Roberts

Thomas Baskett

Timothy and Ann Johnson

Timothy and Phebe McCosker

Tracy and Donald Booth

University Friends Meeting

USFW International

Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting of Friends

Vincent and Jane Kavaloski

Walt Fry

Westerly Friends Meeting

Western YM Benevolence Fund

Western YM Financial Trustees

Whittier First Friends Church

Wilbur and Sandra Wright

Wilderness Friends Meeting

William Deutsch and Martha Davis

William Vaughan

A & N Delellis – In honor of Stephen Lassiter

Azeez N Malley – In memory of Nourideen Malley

Carl & Joyanne Elkinton-Walker – in memory Of Miriam Bruff Covington

Ferris Anthony – In memory of Wadad Cadora

Gordon Meyer- In honor of Meg Body Meyer and Arthur Meyer Boyd

Jonathan Dale – In honor of Rowland Dale

Lincoln & Barbara Blake – In memory of Tony bing

Martin Sonkin – In honor of Tikkun Olam

Mary Given – In honor of Jarod Rischpater

Nadeem Fuad Shehadeh – In honor of Labibeh Fuad Shehadeh(Im Walid)

Skip Schiel – In memory of Hilda Silverman

Stephen and Ingrid Miles – In honor of Miles Family

Steven Pye – In honot of Ellen Pye

M. Abu Ein Daughters Trading Co.

Walt Fry

Westerly Friends Meeting

Western YM Benevolence Fund

Western YM Financial Trustees

Whittier First Friends Church

Wilbur and Sandra Wright

Lee Poleske

Leonard and Mary Ann Cadwallader

Lesley and John Higgins-Biddle

Lewis and Joy Curless

Linda and James Coppock

Live Oak Friends Meeting

Lois Jordan

Lu and Kenn Harper

Mahmoud Abu Ein Girls Co.

Margaret Hummon

Margaret Kaldahl

Marian Beane

Mark P. Dodson

Martha Barss

Martha E. Mangelsdorf

Mary D. Chivers

Mary Glenn Hadley

Maurine King

Maury River Friends Meeting

Meredith Frapier

Michael Amadeo

Michael Conklin

Michael Grunko

Miriam Joscelyn

Morningside Monthly Meeting

Nancy and Malcolm H Bell

Nancy Lloyd

Nancy McDowell

Nancy R. Holt

Nancy S LaFountain

New Association of Friends

Nicholas Abramson & Helaine Meisler

Nihad and Susie Kaibni

Norman K. Janes

Olivia L. Riordan and Phyllis Babcock

Oread Friends Meeting

Otis McCrory Jernigan

OVIA Technologies

Paltel Group

Pamela Pearson

Pamela Wood and Sharifa Elokdah

Pamela Young

Through its 150th Anniversary events and activities, Ramallah Friends School (RFS) aims to celebrate

the school’s past and set the vision for the next 150 years.

The objectives of the celebration are to: (1) Confirm the school’s core identity based in 150 years of

Quaker education, Palestinian achievement, and continuing innovation and leadership. (2) Unify the

school community consisting of students, teachers, staff, parents, graduates and attendees, and friends

of RFS.

(3) Inspire the school and local community to embrace the identity of RFS. Proudly offering quality

Quaker education to Palestinian youth since 1869, RFS aims to continue its mission to:

Celebratory events kicked off in March with RFS’ Forestation Campaign, aimed at creating forests on

both campuses. In April, 150th Anniversary Field Day brought together the whole community for the

first time in recreating an old RFS tradition that was followed by the burial of the 150th Time Capsule

& Opening of Ramallah Friends School Museum.

RFS’ Scholarship Fundraising Gala Dinner will be hosted on campus Friday December 6th aimed at

fundraising for the school development fund including the student scholarship program.

Please visit our website for more details.*